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Does hand sanitizer repel mosquitoes?
Many people are started looking for safer alternatives for mosquito repellents. Really, does hand sanitizer repel mosquitoes or it’s just another myth? We will be exploring the facts and truth behind this in the following article. We will see the effectiveness of hand santizers as mosquito repellents, and check whether do they really provide any benefit in keeping mosquitoes away.
Hand sanitizer Ingredients and contents
Hand sanitizers are basically made for killing bacteria and viruses on the skin that we may acquire or come across in our daily routine activities. Hand sanitizers mainly contains the following components:
1. Alcohol: The alcohol kills the germs, viruses and bacteria by attacking their outer lipid layer. It breakdown the proteins in the outer layer and dissolves the lipid.
2. Glycerine or Aloe Vera: These are added to keep the skin moisturised and hydrated and prevents any excess drying of skin due to alcohol.
3. Fragrances or Essential oils: Some sanitizers are added with fragrances and essential oils to give them a pleasant smell.
These hand santizers do not contain any special compounds that are known mosquito repellents or do have any repelling action aginst mosquitoes. To check whether they can repel mosquitoes, we need to first understand how mosquitoes are attracted to humans. For this we have a wonderful piece of article that you must read here, Why Do Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears?
How does alcohol in hand sanitizers repel mosquitoes?
The main ingredient of any hand sanitizer is alcohol more specifically, ethanol or isopropylalcohol. This alcohol in sanitizers is very effective in killing germs and viruses but there is no any kind of evidence to prove the usage of sanitizers as mosquito repellent.
The possibility of the hand sanitizers to deter mosquitoes may be proposed based on the theory involving – smell due to essential oils and evaporative cooling effect due to alcohol. According to this theory, the sanitizers can give a temporary very short lived momentary protection from mosquitoes.
Potential reason of Hand sanitizer’s mosquito repelling effect
- Smell: The sharp smell of alcohol along with the presence of essential oils specially eucalyptus oil, lavender or citronella, can cause confusion in mosquitoes. They may fail to detect the smell of carbon dioxide and body odor relesed from their hosts. This may happen only if the quantity applied on skin is sufficient enough and also due to highly volatile nature of alcohol, this effect wont last and will disappear shortly. This may result in mosquitoes momentarily staying away for short while.
- Cooling effect: Alcohol gives a cooling sensation on the skin and it evaporates quickly. This may temporarily cools down the skin temperature for a short period of time making it less attractive for mosquitoes, as they are mainly attracted to body heat. However, this cooling effect is very short lived and mosquitoes will return once the skin temperature gets back to normal after alcohol evaporation.
Thus, the mosquito repellent effect is very minor and only for a short period of time. Since, the alcohol evaporates quickly any repellent effect will disappear within few minutes. However, other known mosquito repellents and essential oils can lasts for several hours.
Do essential oils in hand santizers help to repel mosquitoes
There are essential oils like tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, lavender, etc. that are added in hand sanitizers for giving fragrances. And, as a co-incidence these few essential oils do have mosquito repelling properties. These essential oils for mosquito protection can make the sanitizers more effective as mosquito repellents.
However, the concentration in most of the sanitizers are not high enough to provide long lasting protection from mosquitoes. Therefore, the mosquito repellent effect can be expected to be sufficient only when huge amount of sanitizer is applied of skin, which is not practical and feasible.
Hand Sanitizers v/s Mosquito Repellents
The use of hand sanitizers for mosquitoes cannot serve the purpose effectively whereas traditional insect repellents serve their purpose with better efficiency and effectiveness. They have quiet different usage, composition and effectiveness as compared below:
| Feature | Hand Sanitizer | Traditional Insect or Mosquito repellent (e.g. DEET, Picaridin) |
|---|---|---|
| Main purpose | Kills bacteria and viruses | Repel insects and mosquitoes |
| Active ingredient | Alcohol (Ethanol or Isopropylalcohol) | DEET, Picaridin, etc. |
| Effectiveness against mosquitoes | Minor, Short term protection | Long lasting protection |
| Duration of protection | Few minutes | Several hours |
| Mode of action | Temporary masking of body heat and odor, and cooling effect on skin | Blocks olfactory senses of mosquitoes which makes them unable to locate and land on hosts |
Commercial products like DEET and picaridin are specifically designed to provide long lasting protection from insects and mosquitoes. But since these are harsh chemicals that may harm our environment and toxic for our skin, we want safer alternatives.
Next Read: Can We Use Vicks Vaporub to Keep Mosquitoes Away?
Conclusion: Does hand sanitizer repel mosquitoes?
Hand sanitizers may provide momentary, minimal and very short lived protection from mosquitoes, which cannot be considered as effective. The effects of smell from the essential oils and the evaporative cooling effect of alcohol, both are not sufficient enough and do not lasts any longer than couple of minutes. It cannot be used a defense tool against mosquitoes. So, its a big NO, hand sanitizer cannot be used as a mosquito repellent.
The hand sanitizer however, can be used in case of mosquito bites where it works as an anti-septic and prevents any infection.
The minute repelling effect against mosquitoes is just a co-incidence and one should not rely on hand sanitizer for mosquito protection or else he or she will get expose inviting multiple mosquito bites.
